| Dear Friend,
Many projects are happening in the Range of Light public lands. We are working to get better results of the mitigation projects LADWP is required to do, tracking exploratory drilling projects, supporting Tribal Beneficial Uses in the Mono Basin, and more. Keep reading to learn more.
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Help Save Ash Meadows NWR!
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Rover Critical Metals' Townhall Meeting
5:30 pm Thursday
June 20, 2024
Amargosa Valley Community Center
829 E. Amargosa Farm Rd.
Amargosa Valley, Nevada
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| Rover Critical Metals has filed hundreds of claims in the Amargosa Valley and still plans to drill along the northern border of the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, home of the Devil's Hole Pupfish. Drilling will significantly alter the hydrology of the area. Please attend this meeting, if you can and show your opposition to drilling around Ash Meadows. For more information about this issue click here. |
Drilling Project at Hot Creek -- Good News!
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| The California appeals court vacated the Forest Service's approval of the Long Valley Exploratory Drilling Project at Hot Creek. We are waiting to hear what KORE Mining wants to do next; will they ask the Forest Service to do an environmental assessment which KORE Mining would pay for or, will they walk away from the project? The price of gold is now over $2,400 an ounce so, KORE Mining may still forge ahead with the project. If so, we wil ask for better protections for the bi-state sage grouse that are in the project area and for monitoring of the geothermal groundwater since they want to drill at angles between 820-1,476 feet down. |
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| Interestingly, KORE Mining's last press release on the lawsuit was in July 2023 announcing the lower court's decision to support the approval. They didn't release any press releases about the decision in August that put a hold on the project or on the final appeal court's decision in May to undo the approval. Hopefully, the investors saw our coalition's press release. |
Other Exploratory Drilling Updates
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No word yet whether the Bald Peak mineral exploration will start this summer or not. Bald Peak is next to Beauty Peak on the Dry Lakes Plateau in the Bodie Hills. Both are between Rough Creek and Bodie Creek. Paramount Gold will drill at 11 locations on the west and north sides of Bald Peak on the Nevada side of the Dry Lakes Plateau. Four of the drill sites are lined up along the CA-NV border. The area is inaccessible so they will use helicopters to get there with the equipment. |
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Drilling is expected to continue for a 5th year at Spring Peak and for a 2nd year at Sawtooth Ridge this summer. These projects are exploring for gold in the southeast corner of the Bodie Hills south of Bodie Creek in Nevada. |
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LADWP Mitigation Projects -- Aren't They Done?!?
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Sadly, no. After 33 years, one would think all the mitigations would be done and signed off, but that isn't the case. Some projects still have not been completed and we think many projects have not met the goals. What are these mitigation projects? Here is a map and description of them that the Inyo County Water Department developed. You may recognize some of them: water for Millpond, Diaz Lake, and the Buckley Ponds, for the parks, and more. To learn more about these projects and what the Range of LIght Group is doing, read on... |
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A Biomass Facility in Mono County?
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| An update was given at the May 14 Mono County Board of Supervisors' meeting on building a biomass plant in Mono County. The information in the agenda packet explains that the county along with other agencies applied and won a grant for $299,899 to do a pre-development study for a biomass facility on Ormat property. In March of this year, West Biofuels won a Department of Energy grant for $30 milion which would go towards building biomass facilities at three sites in California: Burney, Mariposa, and Mammoth Lakes. West Biofuels estimates it will cost $27 million to build a biomass facility at Ormat. The plant would generate 3 MW of electricity that Ormat could use or put to the grid. |
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| The "feedstock" would come from the Eastern Sierra Climate and Community Resiliency Project (ESCCRP) also known as the "donut project" to start. The question is, what happens after all the trees from the project are consumed? No one will want to remove or abandon a $27 million plant. So,will it then become an incinerator and burn trash? The agenda came out only a few days after the Sierra Club California had a day-long meeting on the impacts of biomass generation on communities, the air, and for climate change. Biomass energy or pellet production is worse than coal for contributing to greenhouse gases. Just burning wood generates pollutants. If the trees are going to be cut donw no matter what, then is turning the biomass into electricity so bad? Would it be better than hauling logs to a sawmill on the west side of the Sierra? or building a sawmill and hauling lumber to market? or burying the logs? To learn more about biomass, join us for a presentation on biomass on June 20 at 5:30 pm at the Mammoth Lakes library. Click here for the link. |
Fish Slough--The NE Spring is Barely Flowing
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| The flow gauge at the Northeast Spring in Fish Slough was 0.67 acre-feet/month on June 1, 2022 and hit zero by July 1. This was the first time since the first gauge reading in 1947 that the spring has dried up. It started flowing a little again that winter. In the 1940s the flow rate was in the 130-140 af/m range. It dropped to under 100 in the 1960s and has been in steady decline since. It was 5.98 af/m last September 1, 2023. The Northeast Spring is the biggest of the three springs that feed Fish Slough. They have all been drying up. A 2019 isotope study showed that the Northeast Spring has a strong signature for water coming from the Tri-Valley mixed with water from the Tablelands and Adobe Valley. Read on... |
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Another Successful Adopt-a-Highway Cleanup!
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| The Hihns keep the Adopt-a-Highway program going and make it enjoyable with lovely snacks and conversation after the trash and recyclables are sorted. There is a prize for the most interesting find. This time the best find of the day was a plastic container full of sunscreen. The Range of Light Group has been picking up trash along a 2 miles stretch of Highway 395 by the Crestview Rest Stop since the 1990s. It started with one person, Paul Kluth. It works best with 8 volunteers. A big thank you to all of you who have helped. Please join us in July and September! |
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Just click on the Volunteer button below or email us at rangeoflight.sc@gmail.com!
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- Become a hike leader, lead day hikes or backpack trips
- Organize a members' meeting
- Create video clips of harmful projects
- Create story maps of special areas in the Eastern Sierra
- Be a No Hot Creek Mine docent/tour guide
- Give tours of the exploratory drilling sites
- Help research how to protect Adobe Valley
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Thank you!
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Join the Sierra Club
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Volunteer Today!
Our success in everything we do depends on volunteers like you. Frustrated with the world? Then #showup and make a difference!
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